


TIFU: By Falling In Love In The Apocalypse.

by valerian_valentine



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Horror, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Roommates, Slow Burn, Zombie Apocalypse, you get the gist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:06:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27259153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valerian_valentine/pseuds/valerian_valentine
Summary: Dave Strider never really had a good grasp on what was appropriate and what was not. That grasp loosens while the apocalypse starts.
Relationships: Dave Strider & Dirk Strider, Dave Strider & Karkat Vantas, Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, John Egbert & Jade Harley & Rose Lalonde & Dave Strider, Nepeta Leijon & Karkat Vantas
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	1. People don't panic like they used to.

**Author's Note:**

> yes, i am making a zombie fic in 2020.

Music blared through Dave’s headphones, the beat thrumming through his veins as his fingers flew across his keyboard at record speeds, his fingers hitting the keys delicately. The tip tap of the keys was enough to relax him, aiding the beat singing through his ears, like backup vocals. Never noticed but it fucking helps. He needed help keeping up this high energy any way, otherwise he was going to have to drop out and go back with his bro and there was no fucking way he was going back home. Nuh uh, no way, not in a million years. There was no way he’d be able to stand the humiliation from his dad so he continued to work on his essay, trying to stay quiet so he wouldn’t disturb the other students that were probably doing the exact same thing as him. He could feel the vibrations of people walking outside his door, some running, some in groups but he couldn’t hear a fucking sound and he adored it. Just him and the feeling of his keys, just him and the music. No coherent thoughts, just a haze of academics and numbers. This, right here, was when he was his happiest. Writing something without having a single thought in his head, without having to pause and even think about it. It was relaxing. He felt like he could do anything in this state… Besides write the word ‘restaunt’... ‘restaunt’...’restraunt’.. Whatever. He’d figure it out when he was editing, he just needed to get words on the page. Yes, this wasn’t due in days but he needed to get some time off without worry because his heart could only take so much stress before giving out and forcing him into another depression. It was difficult and stressful but it was better than getting expelled or something. He let out a quiet sigh, forcing himself to think of something different because if the vibes got messed up now then he would never be able to continue this and he was so not looking forward to that.

He started mouthing the words to the songs he was listening to. Megan Thee Stallion was always a good motivator and a great rapper. She knew what the people needed and she knew her ideal audience. He continued letting his fingers fly across the keyboard, tapping his foot to the beat, letting himself relax and tune out the vibrations from people in the hallways and in the rooms near him, above him and below him. It was just him and this pap-

He nearly lept out of his chair when the door behind him opened, ripping off his headphones so he could see who the fuck just barged in, his hear pounding in his chest. His roommate, the grumpiest person to ever exist, was standing in the doorway with a raised eyebrow.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb you.” He apologized suspiciously, slowly letting his back fall off his shoulder and hit the ground. It took Dave a few seconds longer than usual to calm down and actually respond without his voice cracking.

“It’s chill, I wasn’t paying attention.” He mumbled, going back to his computer screen. He tried to read the words he had just written but it was all gibberish to him, his brain no longer interested in what was on screen, the pressure in his bladder and the hollow feeling in his stomach now becoming stupidly apparent. Damn his bodily functions. He sighed and stretched, his shoulders and neck popping grotesquely. “I was just about to take a break anyway.” He lied easily, opening their little mini fridge and stealing an apple juice. It was almost apple cider season in the shops, hopefully he could find some for cheap or make some. The dorm kitchen should be pretty open to free cider, right?

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone startle you before.” Karkat, his roommate, commented as he sat down on the bottom bunk. Dave’s bed. Dave had put up quite a fight for the bottom bunk. Easier to get in and out of. It meant it was always used as a couch but he didn’t mind, that was better than falling off the top bunk in the middle of the night.

“Hm? Oh. Yeah, I guess it’s kinda difficult. My desire for death-” Before he could finish his suicide joke, Karkat glared at him. Right. “Sorry, I keep forgetting. I’ll do better dude.” He apologized. Karkat was weird. He hated hearing others make suicide or death jokes. Jokes about dead parents or relatives was fine in certain conditions but suicide jokes always irked Karkat in an odd way. He’d go quite and just.. Glare. Karkat was always glaring, technically speaking, but this one always seemed like he was genuinely upset. It kinda freaked him out sometimes.

“You’re doing better about it. At least you aren’t spewing some bullshit about ‘it’s how I cope!’” Karkat grumbled bitterly, crossing his arms and leaning back until his head touched the wall. From this angle, Karkat was… Not good looking. At all, by any standards. His greasy forehead was glinting in the light, his eyebags could easily be seen and they were weirdly concave, giving him an even grumpier look sometimes. His frown lines were much more prominent, his chubby cheeks casting shadows in odd places and his soft jawline gave him a mock double chin but it wasn’t any of Dave’s business. He knew he looked just as bad as Karkat did.

“When’s the last time you stood up?” His roommate asked a bit mockingly, his plain brown eyes staring straight into his soul despite the shades trying to protect him. God, this guy was way too intense for his own good.

“Uhh…” He checked the time. “Four hours? Not that long, I guess.”

“Dude!” Karkat gave him a disgusted look, sitting up straight, narrowly missing the edge of the top bunk. “That’s fucking gross, you’re gonna end up growing mushrooms and mold if you stay there much longer. Go to the bathroom, Jesus.” He grumbled, the left half of his top lip staying up like it was pinned there or like he got it caught on a fishing hook. Both thoughts were funny.

“Chill, I was just about to do that.” He waved him up, standing up and almost immediately going back down when his vision went black and his head felt like it was being crushed like a watermelon that got into the hands of some physics students. Luckily, he was used to this feeling and just blinked harder than usual as he went to grab his shoes from the front door. Karkat was the one who implemented the ‘No shoes around the room’ rule which was weird at first but now it was kinda.. Relaxing. A symbol of home. Made it feel more like two people were living there instead of just two people who were temporarily there. He slipped on his shitty shoes that were falling apart and made his way out into the hallway, the sound of Karkat opening up TikTok quickly fading when he closed the door. He took a deep breath of the cold air before he started walking, shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets. This was his at home hoodie, the one he wore all the time when it was cold in the room. It retained heat like a fucking miracle and could take a fucking beating. He nearly cried when the pocket started falling apart until Karkat showed him how to sew it together properly. Apparently Karkat had a friend who sewed a lot. Sew a lot? Whatever, he didn’t have to be grammatically correct in his head. That shit was for nerds like his brother. He really wish he had brought his headphones with him but nope, he’d just have to be nervous today.

He opened the door to the men's bathroom, flinching when the sounds of sex filled his ears. God damn it, can’t take a piss in peace. He was past embarrassment at this point, used to hearing straighties get it on in really gross places. They’re usually the type of people to get awkward when they hear someone pissing anyway. Fucking weirdos. He forced his mind to blank as he went to the bathroom, letting his thoughts simply rush by like a really loud train. No comprehension, just white noise. By the time he came out of autopilot, he was washing his hands in the sink, catching a glimpse of the happy couple leaving. They looked familiar so he forced himself to remember details that would make them stand out in a crowd. The guy had a really weird mole on his chin that he should definitely get checked out, looking like he didn’t know what a clit was, had a side fade which was definitely not okay and the girl looked like she got her hair done by someone who had no fucking idea what they were doing. Curls, crusty, dry looking and that was definitely dandruff all along on her scalp and her eyes were fairly bloodshot, like she . Poor girl. She caught him looking in the mirror and gave him a disgusted look, rolling her eyes before she kissed the random guy goodbye, giggling like a highschool girl. Yeah, that relationship wasn’t going to work out. He dried his hands and quickly made his way out of there, speeding up his walking pace so he could tell Karkat the ‘drama’. Karkat was always involved or invested in some sort of drama so he’d love this little unfortunate situation. He passed a few people in the hallway but never got greeted besides a few people giving him ‘hey, you exist’ nods or white people smiles when they accidentally make eye contact. Honestly, his least favorite things about living here was the lack of interaction between strangers. Now he was the weird one for giving friendly nods or waves at people he didn’t know. It was the absolute worse when people interpreted it the wrong way but he was working on not being so fucking friendly on the time. Just.. Look straight and keep walking. God, this was boring.

He sighed in relief when he saw his door, the random mud scuffs, paint marks and sharpie scribbles making it easily noticed in the rows of monochrome doors. He knocked his signature knock before opening the door, trying not to immediately crash into the floor once he entered. “I’ve got juicy goss.” He greeted his roommate with this, catching the water bottle that was thrown his way.

“Well? Go on.” Karkat prompted, sitting up. He had been laying on the bottom bunk, scrolling through his phone with boredom written all over his face. There were goosebumps covering his arms. They needed to get a space heater and asap before it really got cold.

“Saw two white people fucking in the bathroom again. I thought I recognized them from your weird drama shit. Guy had a mole on his chin and looked like he didn’t know what a clit was. The girl had the worst case of dandruff I have ever seen and an ankle tattoo I think. She glared at me when I got caught staring and they seemed like they’d get embarrassed about bathroom talk despite fucking in one.” He described them, watching Karkat brighten up as he continued to talk.

“Oh shit, that's Kaylies boyfriend and I’m pretty fuckin’ sure you’re describing her best friend. I’m not talking about some girl she met when they were drunk, I’m talking about  _ they plan on having their kids being best friends. _ ” Karkat explained, partially covering his mouth with his hand.

He huffed out a mock laugh, raising his eyebrows. “You’re shitting me.”

“Why would I lie about something like that, dumbass?”

“Holy shit.” He chuckled, sitting at his desk. “You  _ have _ to get me a ticket to that confrontation. Bet ya twenty bucks neither of them blames the dude for cheating and just engage in a cat fight that acts as, like, the biggest moments of their lives.” He closed his laptop, opening the water bottle he was handed and drank from it, not even bothering to question why he was tossed it.

“Are you shitting me? I’m gonna invite everyone to that fucking event.” Karkat grinned, sitting up. Dave got a glance of Karkats stomach but it was quickly covered by his oversized hoodie once again. Karkats stomach was also covered in goosebumps.

“Do you think Starbucks is selling apple cider yet?” He questioned, crossing his arms to keep the heat closer to his body. His room was freezing and it was starting to really fucking bother him, the chill running through him and reminding of the winters at home.

“Dude, it’s only fifty degrees outside.”

“Oh fuck off Vantas, you start breaking a sweat when it gets above sixty five.” He teased but the good mood got ruined in seconds when Dave’s phone started buzzing loudly in his pocket. Weird, it only buzzed like that if.. He sighed, picking up his phone and answering the call. “Dirk, bro, amigo, the fuck man? You need to stop-”

“Uhhhh…..” Dirk answered, cutting him off. He sounded panicked and the only time he sounded like this was when he was really fucking panicking. “Don’t… Uh, don’t go outside.”

“Why? Is everything okay?” He questioned, standing up, making sure their only door was locked. The fuck was Dirk going on about?

“There’s zombies in India.”

“... Have you been watching those hyper realistic commercials again? Or is this some sort of bug that doesn’t actually turn people into zombies and the media is just panicking like it did with the brain eating amoebas in Florida or when the black plague comes back every now and then?” He questioned, sitting on the bed next to Karkat who looked panicked. He turned his phone on speaker, trying to control his roommates' panic before they ended up fortifying the place.

“Nope. This is the bonafide real deal. Theres a few cases in China too and it’s spreading fucking fast. You think you can get back to Texas with Bro before things go downhill?”

Dave glanced over at Karkat. “No because I’m sure that’s what everyone else is thinking and if I get on a plane now, that’s just more people and I’m pretty content on not being around people right now.” He responded. “He says there’s zombies in India..?” He whispered to Karkat, confused and nervous.

“This sounds fake. I mean, what's the worst that could happen, ya know? Maybe we should just keep doing what we’re doing and let this take its course.” Karkat suggested, looking like he didn’t even believe himself.

“Hey Karkat.” Dirk greeted before he continued. “Still, I think it’s better y’all stay safe rather than.. Dead. Just avoid going out in public places and maybe stock up on the essentials? If I’m wrong about this, I’ll repay y’all for everything you panic buy but please just.. Be safe and careful.” Dirk sounded nervous. He never sounded nervous.

“I will, lil man. You be safe too, alright? Can’t have one of the smartest kids ever get infected.”

“I’m seventeen, Dave.”

“And yet you still use baby spoons. What’s that about?” He teased, wanting to ensure Dirk wouldn’t worry too much.

“Oh fuck off!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Love you, buh bye.”

“Love you too, bye.” Dirk hung up. Okay. Zombies. This is.. New. Very new. He wasn’t nearly as panicked as he thought he would be which was both concerning and reassuring.

“What do you think?” He asked his roommate, running a hand through his hair. If it was a big deal, they would’ve heard about it by now, right?... Right?

“Better safe than sorry, I guess. Let's keep an eye on the news and maybe go stock up on some canned food, get a few more warm clothes while we’re out.” Karkat suggested, looking way more nervous than he felt. “At the first sign of trouble, we’ll just.. Leave and come back home. Easy peasy.” He got up, rubbing his hands together. He always did that when he was nervous.

“Bet.” He got up, still a bit apprehensive but he was always down for a trip to the grocery store. “We’ll just.. Stick together. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, pumpkin greasy, bitches easy, sweater fleecy, daddy sleazy, zombies makin’ me queasy, uneasy, gonna start getting wheezy but it’s breezy, just a trip to the store so take it easy.” He mumbled the little rap while grabbing his shoes and slipping them back on, feeling his nerves start going insane again. He knew Dirk was going to be safe, he was on Jakes stupid island with his friends but what about  _ his _ friends? Jade might be off on some weird island having an adventure but Rose was in New York and John was still in DC, both had too fucking big populations. It was going to be okay. This was going to be okay. He would just have to be a bit more vigilante than usual.. He grabbed his wallet, ID, knife, taser and pepper spray. He never left home without them. John said it was a bad habit but he was starting to think his bad habits were about to come in real handy.

“When we get back, lets watch a few movies, okay?” Karkat suggested, putting on a thicker jacket. “Zombie movies. For the irony of it.”

Dave rolled his eyes behind his shades, knowing a movie like that would only key them both up more. “Alright but we’re watching the stupid ones, the ones with romance.” He negotiated, opening the door for Karkat, letting him out first before closing the door behind them and locking it. He locked it once, made sure it was locked and went on their way, standing close to Karkat. They didn’t pass many people but the people they did pass cowered away from them, looking wide eyed and bushy tailed as someone's grandma would say. It was usually used for someone who was up and working early but the same could be used in this context. At some point, Dave had his arm wrapped protectively around Karkat, unwilling to stray too far from him.

The store was chaos. People were panic buying anything but the essentials. He saw stacks and stacks of steaks, ground beef, meat in general, he saw veggies and fruit that would definitely go bad in a few weeks but the canned food was untouched, only a few people buying. Karkat was the one pushing the cart, trusting Dave to be the one to look out for suspicious activity without even asking while he stocked up on food and medical supplies. They stayed quiet, only making the occasional joke about an off brand name but not much else. It was eerie and he hated it. He felt like he was at Bro’s apartment again but surrounded by people who wanted to see him get hurt. It was overwhelming and everyone was way too close for comfort but they got out of there quickly, carrying their grocery bags with ease. Karkat had luckily brought his backpack with him so that made carrying everything ten times easier until people started screaming inside the store.

Dave didn’t even give Karkat the opportunity to process it before he was grabbing his hand and running to the bus stop. There was no way he was sticking around that fucking area, no way no how. Screaming meant danger and right now, he wanted to be farthest away from the danger.

“Dave! Just- Lets just run home!” Karkat suggested, sounding annoyed at the sudden dragging, his shorter legs struggling to keep up with the unfamiliar pace of things but he got a hold of it quickly. 

“Karkat, you’re a great man, but I am not running a whole fucking two miles.” He shuddered at the thought. Many of his friends thought he was this big and tough dude that worked out a lot but it was all a lie. He could run fast but only for ten minutes, he had the stamina and speed of a fucking cheetah but Karkat was the opposite. He was slow but could go for fucking ever. It wasn’t fucking fair.

“Cope.” Was Karkat response before he gripped Dave's hand tighter and started leading him, forcing him to either keep up or get dragged through the mud and something in his gut just told him to keep the fuck up. If there was anyone he wanted to spend the apocalypse with, it would be Karkat. The guy wasn’t his first choice but it was all he had at the moment and he was the one with all the medical supplies so he genuinely had no choice but to stick with him.

After ten minutes, Dave’s legs started burning and his heart started pounding but Karkat wasn’t letting him stop. They were making great time but he was getting exhausted already, his body started to give up on him but every time he thought about stopping, he imagined a horde of zombies following him and shockingly, his endurance seemed to increase and he managed to keep pace. Luckily, they got it to the dormitory before Dave gave out completely and they stood in front of the elevator, panting heavily. Well, Dave sounded like he was dying and Karkat sounded like he was done with the warm up. Asshole.

“You run fast but your endurance is shit.” Karkat pointed out the obvious, ignoring the glare it earned him.

“Thanks. Now we just have to not pass out on our way up ten flights.”

“We live on the seventh floor, idiot.”

“Same thing!” He snapped and went into the elevator once it dinged open, leaning heavily against the wall while his legs ached and protested.

They didn’t see anyone in the hallways this time, the elevator not stopping even once as it went up. It was scary to walk down the hallways and hear everyone talking inside their dorms but have no one walking by. Dave pushed the anxiety aside and unlocked their door, slipping in quickly and locking it when Karkat got inside. He even put the door jammer under the door knob, the white pole one Rose got him once he moved in. Apparently she’s more paranoid than he is and was convinced someone would break in in the middle of the night. That fact she was more paranoid doesn’t surprise him. He set the groceries down on his bed before sitting at the desk, opening up his laptop to check the news websites, his chest still aching and his legs exhausted. If he had to run anymore, he’d just let the hordes take him. It’s not fucking worth it.

“I got a few texts from my dad.” Karkat piped up, staring down at his phone. “He says to stay inside, that there’s a few cases in big cities here but it’s mostly near airports.” He murmured, tapping his foot.

“CDC says to shelter in place until they can figure this out..” Dave read the words on his screen, looking at the headlines. “Some in Cali, Florida.. One or two in New York. Even fucking Maryland.” He grimaced. Large states, rich people.. There had to be a few in Texas by now. He knew Bro was going to be okay but.. Should he even be worrying about Bro?

“I don’t see anything that's causing a panic besides Facebook groups and social media. It seems pretty small but.. Didn’t your brother say it was just in India?”

“And China. I think it’s spreading and fast.” He ran a hand through his hair, biting his lip. “Well… Who do you wanna rob when things go to shit?”

“Dave!” Karkat scolded but quickly dropped the act. “Shit.. I’m not sure, honestly. We could just take over this entire building, kick everyone out.”

He smiled, just a small twitch of his lips and leaned back. “Seriously? Literally everyone here has just ramen, alcohol and energy drinks. I vote we take over a target. I bet those places become fortresses in the apocalypse.” He got up, stretching for a few seconds. “I’d say to go for the rich people but I bet they’d get eaten first.” He settled his computer on the few boxes they used as a TV stand sometimes, pulling up Netflix. That place always had cheesy romcom zombie movies. “Could you turn off the lights? Make it more moody.” He requested, looking through the Post-Apocalyptic category while Karkat turned off the lights and grabbed the few blankets they had so they could have a full on slumber party up in this bitch.

“This is just going to give us nightmares.” Karkat mumbled, settling in on Dave’s bed, holding one of the pillows in his lap, the other, shittier one cradling his lower back, protecting it from the weirdly cold walls.

“Yeah but we’ll have each other for comfort.” He pulled his wallet and other shit out of his pockets before he sat next to Karkat, letting the movie begin while he got comfortable. The muffled talking from all sides was comforting for once, reminding him of a party. A cool one where he and the other socially inept idiot found a nice place to watch a movie by themselves. He took the opportunity to send Rose and John a quick text, telling them to stay inside. For his sake. He knew he was being a paranoid shit but something was telling him to take this seriously for once. Maybe it was the fact he watched too many apocalypse movies, maybe it was Dirks paranoid seeping into him, maybe he was right and he should be worried. Either way, he was glad he got to spend some quality time with Karkat. He felt like they could be good friends once they figured out some boundaries.

“Is commentary allowed?” Karkat asked, his voice quiet as he curled up, bringing his knees to his chest. He never took his eyes off the screen and Dave was reminded of how intense Karkat got when watching shit.

“Yeah dude. It wouldn’t be a movie night without it.” There was a long pause between the two before Karkat huffed quietly.

“I can’t read the subtitles from here.”

“Then learn French, dumbass.” He teased but he got out of his ‘just starting to warm up’ nest of blankets and paused the movie. “We can put the laptop on the bed but we’ll have to basically cuddle to see it properly.” He proposed the idea, hoping his nervousness wasn’t obvious. This would be the closest he’s ever gotten to someone who wasn’t family or his friends who technically counted as family. His bed was fucking small so they’d be sitting hip to hip and he had no idea if he would be able to handle that right now.

“Alright but we have to put a pillow between our arms. I don’t want your weird, skinny arms touching me.” Karkat scooted around so he was sitting at the head of the bed, right against the wall. Was he starting to suspect his anxiety about being trapped in spaces? Whatever, that was something to worry about for another time. For now, he was just going to worry about himself and the movie.

He got back in bed with Karkat, the pillow preventing their arms from touching and he set the computer in between them so they could equally see it and unpaused it once they were both comfortable. This would be a lot better with some popcorn but there was no fucking way he was leaving this room without having a full on panic attack. He took a few deep breaths, letting himself admire the film while he calmed down. This was just some stupid event that would go away in a few days and he didn’t need to called John or Rose or Jade to make sure they were safe. They were going to be smart and stay safe.

“Can we watch something else?” Karkat requested quietly, not even ten minutes into the movie.

“Like what?” He asked, feeling sleepy and compliant already. With the lights off and the chatter around him, he was feeling relaxed enough to doze off, his stress just exhausting his brain even more.

“A romcom?”

“Yeah sure, you can pick whatever you want. I might catch some Z’s in just a little bit.” He mumbled, crossing his arms and scooting down into the mess of blankets while Karkat typed away on his computer, probably going to play some cutesy, lovey dovey shit. He never pegged (heh) Karkat for a lover of romance but boy was he dead fucking wrong. The guy had way too many romantic novels to be considered respectable but John said that was the type of thing he needed in his life and Rose agreed. Apparently, his ‘toxic masculinity’ was a bad thing and he needed to learn that men could like girly things like romantic novels or whatever. He didn’t really pay attention during that convo. He has a feeling he should have.

Soft music played through his speakers, calming him as the chatter around them died down. It wasn’t that late in the day but there was nothing else to do besides rest or work on essays. As he listened to the movie play, he let himself drift off into a mockery of sleep. He wasn't awake, he wasn’t asleep, he was just on the verge of wakefulness and completely zonked out. His dreams were weird, involving him and some person and they were a part of some weird love story that he couldn’t quite understand but before he knew it, his phone was ringing and the room was bright. There was a lump of warmth wrapped around him, an arm and a leg snuggling him but he wasn’t focused on that. He scrambled for his phone until he found it, an emergency message blaring in his eyes along with many missed texts from his friends. The message told him to avoid public areas and only leave his house for essentials while the texts from his friends were full of worries. He started up a group call with Jade, Rose and John, wanting to be as efficient as possible.

“Hey guys.” He greeted, his voice deep from sleep.

“Dave, we’ve been calling for hours.” Rose scolded, her voice clear. She was probably using her cool ass microphone again.

“Forget that! Dave, I think this virus thing is starting to get serious. I’ve seen a lot of stuff saying not to panic but I’m not sure… Zombies? That seems like a valid reason to panic.” John’s voice had a small echo. He was probably in his kitchen.

“I don’t think we need to worry!” Jade chimed in. “This just happens every once in a while but it most happens to.. Smaller creatures like crickets and such but we’ll be okay. Stuff like this doesn’t last very long, ya know! As long as we just stay inside, we’ll be fine and Dave, don’t worry about Dirk. I’ve got a flight back to the island and he’ll have arrived by then so he’ll be in good hands.”

“Wait, he isn’t there right now?!” He sat up, feeling like someone threw him into the freezing ocean, his blood turning into ice in his veins. Dirk was out on airplanes.. By himself. No protection, no one familiar.

“Roxy is with him, they left two days ago… Did he not tell you?” Rose asked quietly, Jade and John silent.

“No he didn’t because he’s a suicidal brat and just, fuck me I guess?” He laughed, knowing he sounded like he was insane but he couldn’t stop. “I mean, why tell your older brother that you’re going on a flight with a zombie virus going around, huh? And just for the fuck of it, let’s not tell him that you aren’t in the place you said you were and instead, you’re fucking around with a close friend, making both of you two unaccompanied minors!” He rambled, getting out of bed so he could start pacing. “Holy fucking shit, he’s going to fucking die or worse. Rose, he’s gonna… I’m not there, no one is there, Bro isn’t there, he doesn’t know how to defend himself, Rose! How is he going to fucking defend himself?! Do  _ any _ of you know what happens when two kids go travelling together?! They get killed or worse! He has the body mass of a fucking leaf of grass, he’s not going to fucking survive! Oh my god..” He trailed off, covering his mouth as imagines of Dirk scared and alone flashed through his head.

“Dave, breathe.” Rose tried to calm him, sounding almost as anxious as he was. “If he’s learned anything from you, it’s how to defend himself when the time comes. He’ll be fine. The flight they took was small and if anything happens, they’ll be okay. Not everyone in the world is heartless.”

“Dave…?” Karkat questioned sleepily, forcing him to realize how much of a pussy he must look like right now. He scrubbed the emerging tears out of his eyes and cleared his throat before responding.

“I’ve gotta go, my roommate just woke up. We’ll stay inside, promise. Bye guys.” He forced himself to hang up the second his friends said their goodbyes and faced Karkat. “Hey, sorry I woke you. Turns out my brother isn’t where he said he was.” He explained quietly, trying not to flinch when Karkat gave him a concerned look.

“Well, where the fuck is he then?”

“I don’t know. I think he’s on a flight, heading to where he needs to be but I think he’ll be fine. My friends told me, uh, cases are still few and far between so we should be okay for now. We just gotta stay inside for a while.” He explained, taking a deep breath to get his tears away from his eyes. He was tough. He could do this. Crying was for pussies who got their asses kicked, not for Striders.

“Holy fuck.. That sounds terrible, I’m so sorry.” Karkat got out of bed but got a flash of panic on his face before he was scrambling for his phone, quickly snatching it off the floor and practically punched in his password.

Dave left him to his panic, deciding to peak out the window curtains instead while Karkat grumbled worryingly behind him. The streets were significantly more empty than they were before but there were still people running around, on their way to work or class.. Hopefully. He didn’t like this and looking out the window was only making him more upset so he stepped away, sitting down at his desk and looked around the room to find a distraction. They couldn’t stay in here for long, it was too cramped. Sure, they had more space than others because they convinced the RA to let them have a bunk bed but the space that would have been the second bed was replaced with a dresser and a larger mini fridge.. And clothes. Lots of clothes. Neither of them liked doing laundry and having them just sit around was easier. They should do laundry sooner or later.. You’d think they’d have another space but that area was taken up by Karkat's desk which was considerably cooler than his, the space taken up by Karkat's cool computer that he did his coding on. Apparently it was an older model so it ran slower but it was the fastest computer he’s ever seen so he had no idea what Karkat was complaining about. Out of boredom, he got back up and started picking up clothes, putting them into their mostly empty laundry baskets which freed up a large amount of space but it still wouldn't be enough. They should go ahead and do laundry today.. Maybe some of the other students will give them twenty bucks to do their laundry for them? It’s a good idea. Prevent large groups of people from gathering and they turn up a small profit but he’d have to discuss it with Karkat who was currently having what sounded like a loving argument with someone. While he was up, he went ahead and threw away the old, empty cans around the place, allowing himself to stress clean a little bit, even dusting the place with his hoodie sleeve. They were definitely going to have to do laundry now, there was no way in hell he was going through this with his favorite hoodie all nasty.

Karkat tossed his phone aside with a huff, rubbing his face. “Oh my god, remind me to never ever call my brother ever again..” He grumbled before opening his eyes, frowning once he saw him stress cleaning. “You okay?”

“I just do this.” Dave explained, tossing the last bit of trash into the overflowing bins. “We should go do laundry and maybe take out the trash while we’re at it.” He scratched the back of his neck, quickly stopping when he remembered the dust on his sleeve. He was by no means a germaphobe but he hated dust on his body. Made him itchy and rashy, he hated it.

“You sure? Everyone is saying to stay inside unless you need to go out.. Laundry is hardly a necessity.” Karkat got up but didn’t seem committed to his own idea at all. He could tell Karkat was already feeling a bit cramped despite just waking up.

“It’ll be fine. One of us shoves the clothes into the machines and the other keeps a look out for weird behavior. Solid plan, it’s foolproof.” He grinned, picking up the laundry basket. It wasn’t heavy or huge. Neither of them brought that many clothes with them when they got there but Karkat didn’t know that these were all of Dave's clothes and he didn’t need Karkat to know. That was his business. He watched as Karkat debated the idea internally, almost smiling when Karkat went to the door and turned on the light before removing the door jammer.

“Alright. I’ll be the one to shove the clothes in, you keep an eye out. Keep our distance, in and out.” He grumbled, putting on his laundry mat shoes and grabbing the detergent. Since the laundry mat was a part of the building, they didn’t have to go far so Karkat always wore these slippers with plastic bottoms. He always wished he had shoes like that. Instead, he slipped on his crocs and headed out with their dirty laundry, scanning the hallway while Karkat locked their door but before they could even start making their way to the laundromat, the door next to theirs opened up, revealing a pretty small looking girl with cat ears on her head. Cool.

“Hey Karkitty! We overhead you two and we were thinking, maybe you could take our laundry too? We’ve heard a lot of stories about what's happening and we’re a bit too scared.. Please? We’ll give you twenty bucks and use our detergent!” She asked, looking desperate- Wait, how’d she know Karkat?

“Fine but don’t expect this to be a daily service.” Karkat grumbled, taking the twenty bucks from the girl and the laundry, their detergent stacked precariously on top.

“Thank you Karkitty!” The girl chirps before slamming the door shut, locking it behind her, cueing Dave to start walking towards the elevator.

“Soo… Karkitty, huh?”

“Oh shut up!”

  
  


The trip to the laundromat was short, full of banter and relaxing. They both forgot about the ‘zombies’, simply having fun together. Once they got inside the laundromat and saw two other people huddled up in the corner, looking jittery, they were reminded of their situation and Dave moved to guard the front entrance, trying to seem friendly to the strangers. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle y’all.” He laid on his accent, looking out the doors for anything weird but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He determined it was safe enough to turn his back for a little while and watched Karkat load up two washing machines, putting in the coins needed and the detergent. He managed to remember his dirty hoodie before Karkat closed the lid and quickly took said hoodie off, tossing it to his roommate and tried to ignore the stares he got. He really needed to stop wearing tank tops.

“Have… Have you guys heard the news? There was a riot over at the supermarket the other day.” One of the other customers piped up before anyone could talk about his body, the girl around his height.

“The one next to the Starbucks with the drive through?” Karkat questioned, tense. They were there just yesterday.

“Yeah. Apparently a worker fainted and everyone started screaming thinking she was infected or something, it was chaos.”

“Was the worker okay?” Dave chimed in, concerned. This sounded like what happened right when they left..

“Yeah, she was just overworked and hadn’t eaten in a good day or so, apparently she was dirt broke. Having to work overtime just broke her. It wasn’t covered on the news because it wasn’t that interesting and the situation died down within twenty minutes.”

Dave sighed, running a hand through his hair. “So we didn’t have to run!” He complained, groaning. “Dude, you made me exercise for no fuckin’ reason!”

Karkat rolled his eyes, shooting him a glare as he loaded the last bit of their clothes into the washer. “Oh shut up, you needed to exercise anyway!”

The other customers chuckled to themselves, seeming much more relaxed now. “You two were there when it happened?” The other customer, an androgynes person wearing a pretty cool skirt, questioned them.

“We were exiting the store right as it happe-” He cut himself off, jumping to alertness when he heard a cop car nearing. He grabbed the door handle to prevent anyone from running in and watched the cop car speed by, his muscles tense. He didn’t relax until it was out of sight and the siren began to fade. “We’re good. Heading some place far from here.” He reassured everyone, having to grab his wrist just so he could let go of the door handle.

“Fuck.. L, can you keep an eye on the news?” The lady requested from her friend who nodded and quickly pulled out their phone to monitor the news for anything involving areas around them.

“Here,” Karkat headed over and helped her load her wet clothes into the dryer, not hesitating even for a second. Karkat was a weird guy like that, always willing to help in ways others won’t. It was admirable… And kinda humiliating to be around.

“Oh, thanks. Hey, are you two from around here?” She asked, grabbing armfuls of wet clothes.

“Yeah, we live on the seventh floor of the dorms. Room 413, you can identify it by all the mud and paint my roommate gets on the door. I don’t even know where he gets the paint, he’s not even an art student.”

The girl laughed, her kinky hair bouncing a little bit around her shoulders. “Seriously? How do you even manage that? Oh, I’m Winnie by the way and this is my friend Lore.” Winnie introduced herself, grinning wide.

“My name’s Karkat and the douchebag by the door is just some guy that follows me around sometimes.” Karkat joked, earning another laugh from Winnie and Lore. “He’s my roommate, Dave. We decided to get our laundry done before we got put on complete lockdown and our neighbors decided they needed their laundry done too so we got suckered into that.” He explained, returning to their laundry once he was done helping Winnie.

“Really? We decided the same thing. Honestly, our apartment is way too fucking messy, I’m scared we’ll end up growing mold if we get put on some sort of… Lock down or whatever!” Winnie chuckled, starting up the dryer. “So… Do you two think it’s that serious? That we’ll have to go into a lockdown?”

“No.” Dave answered for Karkat. “One of my close friends works with things like this all the time. Diseases and parasites, ya know? Apparently, a zombie like virus is fairly common but it’s mostly just found in smaller living things like crickets or small game. She thinks this will all blow over soon and it’ll disappear for a few decades, resurface and the cycle will continue. It’s like the black plague or chicken poxs or the measles. It pops up every now and again and we eradicate it quickly as long as we follow CDC guidelines or whatever.” He advised, glancing out the window again. There were still people out there, walking to work or home or school.. Hopefully all of this will go away soon, this was fucking nerve-wracking.

“Oh, well that’s a relief! Lore and I have been binge watching zombie movies to be prepared, guess we shouldn’t assume the worst.” Winnie giggled, leaning against the vibrating washing machine. “Have you two seen any good shows recently? I’m so scared of getting bored to death by lack of content!”

“I was thinking about revisiting older shows.” Karkat piped up. “Like The Office, Schitts Creek, kinda comedy things to keep the spirits up, ya know? Stuff I’m familiar with that isn't overwhelming.”

Winnie nodded, humming in thought. “That’s actually really smart.” And the conversation continued, Winnie and Lore waiting for their laundry to be done before leaving. They talked about shows they enjoyed, shows they should watch, favorite subjects.. Dave learned a thing or two about the ocean from Winnie and a good fuck ton about bugs from Lore but every once in a while, they’d go silent and stare out the window. Every time someone jogged by, every time there was a fast movement, anything that caught their attention but after a solid minute or two, Dave would crack a joke and they’d be right back into their conversation. A sociologist would have a field day in there, observing how just four people could bond when in an anxiety inducing situation like this.

Their laundry finished, finally, and Dave carried most of it as they headed out, saying their goodbyes to the strangers who were heading in the opposite direction. The trip back was short, uneventful and when they arrived it was full of thank yous from- Nepeta?- their next door neighbor. Once they got back inside, Dave collapsed on his bed, his nerves buzzing. He no longer enjoyed going outside, not like this. Its fucking nerve-wracking, honestly and he hated it. He really, really hoped all of this was just some big overreaction because he was not fucking ready for zombies. No way, no how.

“Well… That was nice.” Karkat mumbled, putting their detergent back into one of their few cabinets that held little cleaning supplies and a lot of ramen packs. “It kinda helped, ya know? I was getting really worried that everyone was overreacting or something and we’d have a full on apocalypse in just a few days.” He chuckled awkwardly.

Dave sighed and grabbed his phone, sitting up so he wouldn’t get sleepy. “We should check how other people are reacting to this. Maybe we’ll find more information, maybe we’ll manage to see some pictures of these so-called zombies.” He suggested, opening up his instagram account. None of his friends posted anything new, the meme accounts he followed were already making doomsday jokes but there wasn’t much else. He checked his explore page and found nothing so he checked out popular hashtags. #love #happy #fashion and for the fuck of it #zombies and #apocalypse. There wasn’t much, just people saying that this seemed like a hoax, a government conspiracy and they were going to go outside instead of staying in. There weren’t any pictures showing zombies despite fake once, SFX makeup that sent shivers down his spine. He was being unreasonable with all of this, this was all just going to be okay and he just needed to chill the fuck out. Maybe it was just some government hoax, maybe they were just trying to keep everyone inside so they could do some weird, radical thing that he didn’t even want to know about. He sat there for a good ten minutes, just scrolling through pictures. Some ‘influencers’ were talking about how this wasn’t real and they heard it only infected certain people. A dumb virus was already dividing people like it was nothing.

“I don’t see anything useful.” He spoke up, turning off his phone. The heavily edited pictures were giving him a fucking headache.

“Reddit could have something?” Karkat suggested, turning on his computer. The wallpaper was interesting enough, just a bunch of crabs happily scurrying along the beach scene. It was kinda cute, kinda funky. He pulled up Reddit and typed in ‘zombies’, immediately getting multiple NSFW subreddits which was expected and a doomsday prepper one but not much else besides one very, very small subreddit at the bottom. Only ten members. He opened it up and got introduced with a very blurry photo of a ‘zombie’. It was drinking from a stream, deformed and… Bloated, almost. It looked exactly like a corpse, not much to say about it but the photo was at least ten pixels, if he was being generous. Which he was. It was hardly a good picture, it could have easily been photoshopped or staged so Karkat scrolled down where they found some… Interesting photos. Taken from around a corner, there was a person with a gaping hole in their stomach wobbling towards a nurse who seemed to be petrified with fear. The whole photo was shaky, like the person taking it was trembling and there wasn’t much else. It could easily be some sort of cosplay photo or something staged but the post was in Hindi so it was almost impossible to tell what the fuck it was trying to tell them.

“Copy paste it into google translate, dumbass.” Dave suggested, standing up so he could look over Karkat's shoulder, practically leering over him.

“Says the dumbass!” Karkat grumbled, opening up a new tab to get google translate in the mix. It too the computer maybe a whole second to load up the whole thing but apparently that was one second too fucking long for Karkat who started grumbling and huffing his ass off, complaining about how slow his computer was when Dave could clearly see his Minecraft was open and running in the background. Fool. But instead of making this entire process longer by arguing and shooting the shit with Karkat, he kept his mouth shut as he copy pasted the paragraphs into google translate and Dave didn’t need a fucking degree to understand that it was bad.

“Oh fuck..” He mumbled, his eyes skimming the translation, only taking in the words ‘dead’ ‘zombies’ and ‘no one is helping’ so instead of processing that like a human being, he reached over Karkat and pressed the power button, goosebumps spreading along his arms and not just from the cold.

“Dude!” Karkat protested, shooting him a glare but something on Dave's face made him soften and go quiet.

“I’ve got an essay to work on, I don’t have time dealing with this shit.” Dave responded, his excuse half assed but true. He sat down at his desk and opened up his laptop, still trying to absorb everything they just saw. This wasn’t going to blow over, was it..?


	2. The Beginning... Kinda.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave gets a first hand experience with a zombie and Karkat puts his leadership skills to good use.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW!: Gore, eyes bleeding, vomit

Waking up in the middle of the night was never fun in Dave’s experience. He was forced to choose between comfort and warmth or not pissing the bed and every time, he was forced to leave his new home and shuffle through cold halls with eyes on him, peering into his soul as he just tried to get to the bathroom. It was annoying every time it happened and he hated it which is why he was in such a sour mood the second he stepped outside of his dorm, the chill hitting him like a ten foot truck on acid and speed. He should’ve stolen one of Karkats many sweatshirts, this was stupidly cold.

“Dave, right?” A loud and high pitched voice startled him out of his negative thoughts, forcing him to look at whoever was disturbing his grumpy storm of thoughts. Behind him was Nepeta and holy shit she was a lot shorter than he thought.. And buffer, hot damn. She looked like she could easily bench press his entire body and then some.

“Uh, yeah. You’re Nepeta, our neighbor..” He mumbled dumbly, squinting behind his shades. He should have just uprooted his blanket house and wore that to the bathrooms, just let himself bump into everything in favor of protecting his eyes from the harsh lights and protecting his entire body from the harsh cold.

“Yeah! You goin’ downstairs?” She asked, pointing to the door, taking a half step towards it, implying she wanted to walk with him. He couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous about walking to the bathroom with a girl he barely knew but he nodded anyway and started walking with her to the stairwell, hugging himself even tighter when even colder air blasted him when she opened the heavy door. If he wasn’t awake then, he was now.

“Poor thing! You shoulda brought a jacket!” Nepeta giggled, already beginning her decent while Dave stumbled along, cold and disoriented after just waking up.

“I shoulda stolen one of Karkats..” He grumbled, huffing quietly as Nepeta erupted in a new wave of giggles. His nose was cold as fuck and his breath fogged slightly every time he exhaled. Despite how annoying this was right now, the kid inside of him was screaming with joy. ‘ _Dragon breath!_ ’ he could hear his little dumbass exclaiming excitedly, thinking of this as a sign of snow to come. Snow never came when he was a kid. Bro always corrected him every time he said this. ‘ _Fog, David. Don’t be stupid.’_ Well, now he was in college and could call this dragon breath all he fucking wanted. Take that, asshole. Oh, Nepeta was talking, shit.

“Sorry, could you repeat that? I’m still tired.” He mumbled, rubbing his biceps.

She grinned at him, her cheeks squishing her eyes together and her entire expression reminded him of a cat. “It’s okay, I wasn’t saying anything of value. So, why are you up so late?”

“Need ta piss.” 

She laughed. Why did she laugh? “You’re so blunt, I can see why Karkat likes you!” She teased, her shoes hitting the bottom floor with a slap. What? Was Karkat talking about him without his knowledge?

“Wh-” Before he could get his question out fully, Nepeta was opening the door and skipping inside. He quickly followed her once he realized there was more heat in there and made his way to the bathrooms when he realized just how badly he needed to pee also wanting to get this over with so he could get somewhere with proper heating AKA his dreams.

The bathroom was freezing so he did his business, fantasized about hot soup while he washed his hands and got the fuck out of there where he was met with a woman standing in the middle of the hallway, hands on her knees, coughing up half her lung. He frowned, glancing towards the women's room. Nepeta must still be in there.

“Ma’am? You okay?” He asked quietly, the warm lighting giving a weird atmosphere to the whole situation. Instead of replying, she pointed at the door, looking sickly and terrified, wheezing as her body shook with tremors. He frowned and stepped closer to the middle of the hallway so he could get a better look out the door, trying to see what the fuck she was pointing at when he finally smelled it radiating off of her. Infected cuts, blood, sweat… It was disgusting, an unfortunately familiar smell for him that reminded him of too many nights by himself. He ignored the putrid smell, holding his breath as he peered out the window, freezing when he saw three people patting the door, lazily trying to get in. Their eyes were bleeding, blood vessels burst around their irises, some bursting right in front of him as he watched their almost slimy like hands weakly hit the window over and over again, mouths dripping with drool and blood. The sight made his throat flex, preparing to puke but unlike people in movies, his reflexes were fast and he wasn’t a fucking idiot.

“Nepeta!” He shouted, quickly backing away from the girl just in case she was one of them and pulled out his phone to call 911 but abandoned that idea when the lady started throwing up, pink stuff spilling from her mouth in chunks, his priority now becoming ‘Get the fuck outta here’. It looked like she had just ate a fuck ton of coffee beans and.. Pus… Pus was mixed in with the pink gunk, thick, yellow streaks running through the ‘fluid’. It barely counted as a fluid, it was too thick, too.. Chunky. He gagged, covering his mouth, backing up faster as Nepeta exited the bathroom.

“What happen- Oh fuck!” She squeaked and quickly scurried over to his side, her eyes wide with fear, her expression reminding him of Dirks whenever he had nightmares. It hurt. “What’s wrong with her..?” She asked quietly, her voice shaking.

Instead of responding, he grabbed her hand and shoved the heavy stairwell door open, shoving her inside along with himself and held back the urge to push it shut. That would only make it slow down. Stupid fucking safety mechanisms. He watched in the slowly closing crack as the woman slowly stood up to her full height, revealing a bloody patch on her breast that was very obviously the source of the infected smell. He stood there like an idiot, watching bloody drool waterfall out of her mouth as her eyes started surveying the area, her nostrils flaring as she took in deep breaths until her fucking eyes landed on them right as the door closed fully. It was something out of a horror movie, the way she launched herself at the door and the only thing Dave could do was shove bikes in front of the door, grab Nepeta and start booking it up the stairs. There was no way in hell he was sticking around the get attacked by that ugly motherfucker, no way no how. He refused to be one of the first zombies. He loved disappointing his bro but not that much.

Nepeta raced next to him, moving surprisingly fast and even keeping pace which was shockingly given her height but he supposed that didn’t really matter when it came to stairs. They raced up the steps as the woman screamed below them and Nepeta shouted curses in a language he was too colonized to understand, her eyes wide and tearful, her pupils tiny pinpoints. He supposed he didn’t look much better. His legs started burning around the fifth flight but he forced himself to keep it up all the way to the seventh floor, dodging random people with Nepeta, sticking close to her as he ran. While they were obviously running away from something, others started running downstairs and he caught a glimpse of someone calling 911. He inwardly shamed himself for not doing that immediately. Fucking idiot. Once they got to their floor, they both leaned against the door, panting heavily.

“Wh.. What the fuck..” Nepeta whispered in between breaths, shaking from head to toe. He should probably be as scared as she was but it just.. Wasn’t hitting him yet.

“I guess we’re the main characters now..?” He tried joking, cowering away when Nepeta gave him a look. Fuck.

“Lets just… Lets just get back to bed and let the police handle this, okay? Just.. Don’t wake up Karkat, he shouldn’t have to deal with this this early..” She murmured, slowly pushing herself away from the door and shuffled to her dorm, her hands shaking. Fuck. He sighed, trying to take deep breaths and force himself to process the situation, waiting for his panic response to activate and send his body into a panic attack but it wasn’t coming. Maybe he was just… Desensitized at this point? Maybe it wouldn’t happen just this once? He knew he was being too hopeful but he desperately wished he was desensitized. He pushed himself off the door and shuffled to his room, the hallway feeling miles long and a few inches long all at once. He could already feel his memory of the situation start to fade, the woman becoming blurry, the people outside turning into nothing. If his heart wasn’t still racing and if Nepeta hadn’t been with him, he would have thought it was a dream but as the faint sound of people screaming echoed up the stairwell he was forced to realize that this was reality, he wasn’t dreaming and there were _fucking zombies._ What the fuck? Who decided that was a good idea? He froze when screaming was followed up by gun shots, instinctively counting them. Twenty shots, loud.. Definitely an assault rifle of some kind. Fun. Just for shits and giggles, he went back to the stairwells door and opened it just a crack, now able to listen in on what was going on.

There were some men yelling, some people screaming, more gunshots and then it was just sobbing and gagging noises in the stairwell. He already knew there was a crowd of people at the bottom, puking their guts out. Someone must’ve been trying to run because there was another gunshot and a man, a police officer he assumed, started yelling about how they were now no longer allowed to leave the building. Oh, fun. He should tell Karkat. He moved away from the door right as he heard multiple people rushing down the stairs to supposedly start a riot or something.

He got to his door and shoved it open to get away from the shots and yelling. Despite how faint they were now, it wasn’t helping his anxiety knowing there were now a lot of people downstairs where the zombies were. He looked up at the top bunk after locking the door behind him, watching Karkat’s lump slowly rise and fall with each semi quiet breath. The guy was loud, even when he was sleeping.. He found it nice. A calming white noise that prevented him from slipping into terrors and delusions. He wanted to thank his roommate but that would be too weird, even for him.

He took a deep breath, moving closer to the bunk bed, lifting his heels off the ground so he could rest his head on Karkat's mattress, watching his grumpy face. It was kinda funny, how he looked grumpy even when he was sleeping. Rose would have a field day psychoanalyzing him.

At the mere mention of Rose, his anxiety spiked and images of Rose running from zombies rushed through his head so he settled his face, hiding his panic before he chose to wake Karkat up. Sucks to suck Karkat, but he isn’t dealing with his anxiety all by himself.

# \----

“Karkat. Karkat. Karks. Karkalicious-”

“Dave, you have ten seconds to give me a valid reason why you’re waking me up when the sun is not halfway through the sky yet.” Karkat grumbled, his head pounding as per usual. It always seemed like his head was hurting. From lack of caffeine, from lack of Zoloft, from anger, sadness, you name it and he’s had a headache from it. It was always hurting, just like his back and hands. Maybe he was just aging rapidly and would end up dying of old age at twenty five. That would be ideal, given the current situations.

“There’s zombies downstairs.” Dave told him casually, not even flinching when he finally opened his eyes and glared at him. Dave looked just as stupid as usual, his chin resting on the edge of his mattress with this stupid, stoic look on his face. “It’s fine now, I’m surprised the shots nor Nepetas screaming woke you up. She’s okay, she was just yelling at them in what I assume is Tagalog. It was impressive.”

He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself before he sat up, glaring down at his roommate. “What the fuck happened? I rest for, what, two hours and already we’ve been invaded by zombies!” He scolded Dave despite the blond having nothing to do with the past events. Probably. He never knew with Dave.

“I went to take a piss and ran across Nepeta ‘round the hall so we went down together and saw this lady hacking up her own lungs and there was a small crowd of them and then we ollied the fuck outta there like some two very fuckin’ cool kids and I guess some idiots heard Nepeta’s screaming or whatever and came down to help and it was just a huge mess, wish you were there. Like, there were a lot of gunshots so I’m guessing a lot of people caught the dumb bitch disease. It was rad hearing Paul and Dan get their rage out on some innocent zombies instead of their wives. I’m not joking, they sounded like they beat up their families then go on to say how hard it is for them to live nowadays, like bro, your wife is fuckin’ bleeding through her eye sockets and she’s pregnant, I think her life is a lot harder right now. ACAB, I guess.”

He stared at his roommate while he rambled, trying to take in what he was saying. “You…. How did people die without my knowledge?” He grumbled, scratching his scalp before slipping out of bed, hitting the ground with a muffled thump.

“I dunno, they sounded stupid anyways. Background character energy.” Dave stared at him, looking like a fucking NPC, just standing there and staring at him. Fuckin’ Skryim guard type vibes.

“Is Nepeta okay? Did she get hurt at all?” He questioned, rubbing his biceps to warm himself up. It was fucking cold as shit in here, when did that happen?

“Nah, she was pretty badass. Dominated me in the race back upstairs. Anyway, the police are forcing us to stay inside the building until everything gets sorted out or whatever.” He finally moved, sitting down at his desk, his leg immediately beginning to bounce up and down.

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, there's like a whole ass riot downstairs. A whole floor of people just straight up yelling at the cops, I even recognized some voices from some blue lives matter shit. I guess the police matter until they start doing their jobs, huh? Well, technically, it isn’t the police not letting us leave, it’s the med professionals making the police not let us leave but same thing in the end, ya know?” Dave shrugged, grabbing one of his many pens and spun it around in his fingers, looking bored with the whole situation. “I think they’re gonna die first.”

“Don’t say that because if they do die first you’ll be suspected of murder and if you go to jail, they’re gonna put me with some other random white dude and I don’t feel like getting hate crimed, Dave.”

“Valid. Us minorities gotta stick together.”

He frowned, giving Dave a look. “You’re a minority?”

Dave raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? Half Asian and albino. I’m legally blind, bro, which I guess makes me disabled..? I dunno, I don’t ask questions when it comes to my physical health because then people actually try to explain it to me and I’m just sitting there thinking about the latest Great British Bake-off episodes. Listen, the British might be known for their colonizing, poor cooking skills and severe cases of inbreeding but damn if they don’t know how to bake. I wonder how the fuck they do it, ya know? Like damn.”

Karkat blinked a few times, trying to keep up with what Dave was saying. “Yeah the uh… The American healthcare system isn’t kind to those with disabilities..” He mumbled, a bit confused but Dave seemed like he knew what he was talking about at this point. “So… Uh… Wait, how are we gonna get groceries? Why are they trapping us in here? What about classes?” He questioned, tired and done with this shit already.

“Oh… That’s actually a pretty good question.. Um... I dunno, I wasn’t really paying attention? I think they just didn’t want us students roaming the streets and infecting everyone else, I guess, I’m not really sure.” Dave shrugged, spinning around in his chair like a toddler.

“Motherfuc- Did they even tell us anything? Dave, did they explain anything whatsoever or were they just like ‘we’re trapping you guys in here until we feel like letting you out’?”

Dave frowned, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he tried to remember if he was told anything of value. “Uhh… Nah, they were saying a lot of words to make it seem like they were smart and had a plan or whatever but after dealing with so many white men with fragile masculinities, I saw right through their act. I don’t think they even know what's going on or how to stop it, it’s like dude. Have you ever even seen a horror movie? Like, god damn, ya know?”

He sighed and grabbed some dirty sweatpants that were hanging out on the floor, shoving them on so he wasn’t roaming around in his boxers. “I’m going to get Nepeta, make sure she’s okay and maybe she’ll know what’s going on.” He grumbled, slipping on his house shoes before taking off the door jam and leaving, flinching when his ears were filled with the shouting and yelling from all the way downstairs. It was faint but shit, it was fucking annoying. He sighed, closing the door behind him before he turned right back around and knocked softly on Nepetas door who immediately opened up, looking exhausted.

“Karkitty, you would not believe the crap I just went through!” She shook her head, throwing her hands up dramatically. She didn’t seem too upset by the current events.

“Yeah, Dave told me-”

“I told that bugger not to wake you!”

He smiled, rolling his eyes. Only Nepeta would be worrying about his sleep schedule in a situation like this. “Thanks. Did the police tell you anything?” He questioned, hoping to get some more answers.

“Paw- Police?” She frowned, looking over at Dave who was standing a bit too close for comfort. “I didn’t know the police were here!”

“Yeah, they got here after you went in your room. I overheard them, was eavesdropping the shit out of those fuckers. Said some shit about making us stay here ‘till crap got sorted out, whatever that means. Fired only a few shots so I assume they didn’t get all the zombies but like, go off, I guess.” Dave shrugged beside him, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I was planning on going back down and asking questions once the shouting match dies down, bitches don’t even understand that this ain’t the way you get across to the police or whatever.”

He nodded as Dave spoke, glancing towards the stairwell. “We could just go right now, grab an officer and get this over with so we can get some shut eye.”

Nepeta laughed, putting her hands on her hips. “I don’t think Imma sleep for days after this! You’re friend was purr- pretty fast up those stairs, put my little tush into gear! Felt like the fear of God herself was bein’ struck into me whether I liked it or not.” She stepped out, shutting and locking the door behind her. “Let’s go ‘head n get going, I need to burn off some of this extra energy!” She grabbed Dave’s hand and began dragging him towards the stairwell without even waiting for someone to comment or stop her.

“Wait, what are we doing?” Dave asked, trying to sound confused but his voice betrayed him, showing his nervousness.

“We need answers!” Nepeta declared, shoving the heavy staircase door open which amplified the yelling by a lot, so much so he could hear individual voices. Dave, shockingly, got a flash of nervousness across his face before it disappeared and he was descending the stairs with Nepeta, his long legs doing so with ease and weird grace that made him look unnatural. Karkat quickly followed them, his heart racing as he tried to calm himself a little bit. If anything went too horribly wrong, they could just run back upstairs. They’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.

It wasn’t okay. People were packed together, talking over one another, there were completely empty sections that seemed like a good place to stand until you smelled the blood and gore on the floor around it. Someone’s brains were on the wall as well, maggots or worms squirming through the flesh. A few students, just one or two, were focused on the gore, murmuring to themselves about who even fucking cares. The sight nearly made Karkat throw up but he had more pressing matters to attend to, like making sure they weren’t just being locked inside and abandoned like most people did with pets. His broad shoulders and muscle combined with Dave's height and Nepeta’s intimidating skills, they were at the front within seconds, a line of police preventing them from escaping. The policemen looked exasperated, trying to keep the sleep deprived and freaked out students calm. Everyone was yelling over each other, it was impossible to hear and the overlapping voices were just stressing everyone out even more so he did what he did best. He yelled.

“ **HEY!** ” He shouted, forcing everyone to quiet down and just listen. “What about groceries?! What about class?! Do you actually have a plan or are you just quarantining us out of fear?!” He questioned, glaring down the officers in front of him, a wave of agreement running through the crowd.

“We have the situation handled, if everyone could just-”

“That doesn’t answer his questions!” Nepeta spoke up, crossing her arms. “You’re just avoiding answering ‘cause you don’t want us to know that you’re freaking out just like us!” A few ‘YEAH’s could be heard through the crowd and few people brought up a stool so they could stand above the others, make their voices more clear to everyone. It was a flimsy stool and Nepeta needed help getting on it but it worked. “Who will be getting us food?!” She asked again, crossing her arms and Karkat was once again reminded of how thankful he was that Nepeta was naturally short. If she had even a few more inches on her, she would be so fucking intimidating.

“We will figure it out, please just return to your rooms-”  
“We have class, dude!” Dave ‘shouted’, looking annoyed now. “What the fuck am I supposed to tell my professor? I can’t miss class again!” People started shouting again, saying they had classes and they would fail if they missed one more class, their professors weren’t kind enough to let them skip, there was no way their 50 year old professor would be able to figure out how to even do an online class, etc.

“We don’t know, please, just return to your rooms so we can figure this out!” An officer shouted, holding his hands up in a ‘placating’ manner. The action just made Karkat more upset.

“Fuck you!” He flipped the officer off before grabbing Nepeta’s hand. “Let’s go, they’re too stupid to figure shit out anyways. It’s like yelling at a fucking goldfish.” He grumbled, helping her down while a group of people started grumbling as well, shoving their way out of the crowd and back to the elevators and stairwells. Dave and Nepeta stayed fairly close to him while he wormed his way through the crowd, tired and even more frustrated than when he got there. He really wished that one day, someone would know how to do their job and be able to do it well.

Once they got back to their floor, they went into Dave's and his room so they wouldn’t wake Nepetas' roommate and they all practically melted from frustration and exhaustion, all of them slowly shoving off their shoes before settling in, getting ready to talk even more.

“I don’t understand how fucking incompetent some people are..” He grumbled, locking the door behind them.

“I can. Police rarely help in my experience.” Dave spoke up, sitting at his desk once again. It felt like he was using Dave’s bed more than Dave himself which was… Fucking weird.

“.. Breathin-Breezin’ on past that, what do you think they’re gonna do, Karkitty? I mean, I can afford to miss a class or two but a lot of others can’t and what about groceries? How the hell are they gon’ solve that?” Nepeta sighed, sitting on Dave's bed after taking off her shoes, letting him sit next to her, the bed dipping and creaking under their combined weight.

“I’m not sure… I mean, hopefully they have someone deliver our groceries and maybe we could host some online classes but do we really trust those guys to tell our professors the situation?” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I think we should all email our prof’s and tell them the situation, maybe take a few pictures of the lines of police just for proof and be on our merry way. Not now though, that’d be fuckin’ rude, I’m talking about.. Eight AM?”

Dave shook his head. “I got a class at six AM sharp tomorrow so I’ll go ‘head and email that douche right now. He deserves to get woken up after forcing me to wake up and cram my head full of knowledge at six fucking am.” He grumbled, opening up his cheap laptop. Sometimes he wondered if that thing could even send emails..

“Purr-Poor you!” Nepeta joked, stretching out. “Well, this sounds like a solid plan and if we all start running low on food, I know exactly how to sneak out of this place. You guys won’t like it but it’s better than starfin- starvin’!” She smiled, still trying to keep a good mood through all of this. Unfortunately for her, he had questions that needed answers.

“Thanks, Nep.” Karkat thanked her before he worked up the courage to question just what went down. “What happened exactly when you two went down there..? Dave didn’t really tell me anything about what happened.”

“You didn’t ask, asshat.” Dave pointed out, raising an eyebrow. If he knew anything about Dave, it was that he never sat down and just took the blame. Asshole. “To be fair, I’m already forgetting what happened, so..” He looked over at Nepeta expectantly, leaning back in his chair to maintain his casual look. He still looked like a douchebag.

“Oh! Well… I only really saw a few bits and pieces of the whole thing.. I came out of the bathroom and there was this woman who smelled absolutely horrible. You remember that time I found a very dead lizard near the lake?”

He nodded, urging her to continue. He felt like he was hooked on every word, the memory of her dragging him over to see the dead lizard now vivid and just as disgusting as the first time he saw it. It had been in the end of it’s bloating stage, blood and guts spewed all over the grass like it exploded from the pressure. He had nightmares of dying like that for months.

“It kinda smelled like that, it was horrible.. Like that mixed with gross pus! It was nasty!” She stuck her tongue out, shaking her head to express her disgust. “Nasty nasty! But then we started running and Dave shoved some bikes in the way of the door and.. Well, we had to… We had to watch that lady transform…” She trailed off, her expression darkening. He looked over at Dave who seemed just as helpless as he felt, the two exchanging a nervous and awkward look before he finally decided to try and comfort her.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He mumbled, rubbing her back gently. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.” He reassured her. “Why don’t you go back to bed, huh? We’ll talk more in the morning.”

She nodded, getting up and plastered a smile back on her face. “Well, see you guys later! Make sure you get some sleep, Karkitty, we can’t have you passing out on us again!” She teased as she grabbed her shoes and left, leaving him and Dave alone in uncomfortable silence, sadness hanging around in the air like a heavy mist, sticking to their skin.

“... Are you two datin-”

“No!” He snapped at his roommate, his face flushing as the mood changed from one extreme to the other. “We aren’t- Shut up!” He got up, locking the door again and put the door jam under the handle, trying to avoid looking Dave in the eyes.

“Well, forgive me for assuming. You two just seem…. Close.” Dave mumbled, sounding smug.

“We’ve been friends for years, forgive us if we seem fucking close. Mind your business, Dave, I don’t go around asking if you’re dating your friends, huh?” He huffed, sitting back down on Dave’s bed.

“You wouldn’t be the first. Apparently, not everyone thinks kissing the homies isn’t gay.”

Karkat frowned, squinting at Dave. “Are… Are you gay or something?” He questioned, watching every individual muscle in Dave’s body stiffen and- Oh no, he just asked a straight guy if he was gay. Fuck. Man, he was not looking forward to this straight guy panic rant.

“No! I just- I was a joke, Karkat, jeez! I don’t swing like that, my god-” He sputtered, his face bright red. Apparently pale as fuck skin led to everyone always knowing when you were embarrassed. “I don’t- Why would I ever like a dude- Are _you_ gay? Huh? How about that, _Karkitty?_ ”

“Yeah.”

If Dave’s goal was to be redder than a semi ripe tomato, he was accomplishing it. He didn’t even know humans could turn that color. “Well- Then- You-” Dave sputtered, dissolving into an embarrassed pile. “Then how come you get all red when I ask about yours and Nepeta’s relationship?” He accused, eyebrows drawn together.

“Because it’s weird! I think of her like a sister! You’d respond the exact same way if I asked if you were dating your brother.” He crossed his arms, putting on a stern look so Dave would think twice before saying some homophobic shit.

“Well- Just- Whatever, just don’t.. Hit on me or something..” Dave grumbled quietly, turning back to his computer.

“Won’t be a problem! You are the farthest thing away from my fuckin’ type.” He practically hissed, lifting himself up onto the top bunk, facing the wall to signify the end of this stupid conversation. No matter how many times he had this interaction, it was still annoying and hurtful. What was wrong with him? Why was he so hooked up on the opinions of others? It didn’t even matter! Knowing whether or not Dave accepted him shouldn’t affect him yet here he was! Upset and glaring at a wall like an idiot.

There was a painfully long moment of silence before Dave spoke up again. “What.. is your type..?” He asked quietly, his fingers still typing at his computer albeit at a much slower pace. The occasional click and clack was.. Calming. Helped him take deep breaths and let go of his irrational anger.

“Mentally stable people.” He replied, smiling just a tiny bit when he practically heard Dave’s head whip around.

“Hey! What makes you think I’m not mentally stable?”

He rolled over so he could face Dave. “We’ve been living together for well over a month now, Dave. I’ve seen a lot.”

Dave stared at him before sighing. “Yeah, that’s fair. But really, what is your type?” He questioned, looking curious now. Well, at least he was over the homophobic shock.

“I don’t really have many preferences for physical appearance, ya know? I’ll take what I can get at this point but… I like people who are stable in life, independent sort of but are willing to let me pamper them and shower them in affection. I’ve dealt with too many emotionally immature people and I’m tired of it, I just want someone who can handle.. Me and handle themselves. I want someone that will rely on me but not pester me every waking moment of everyday and throw fits when I get tired of that. I just want someone who understands and listens but apparently that bar is too fucking high. Honestly, why did I ever choose to date men?” He grumbled, staring at Dave’s desk mournfully. Finding an emotionally mature man was like finding a needle in a stack of needles. You’re not gonna find what you’re really looking for and you’re gonna have to deal with a lot of pricks while looking.

“Yeah, it was a bad decision on your part.” Dave smiled just the slightest bit. At least he could take a joke and wasn’t freaking out. It was kinda nice being able to talk to someone like this. It’s been a while since he was allowed to engage in stupid ‘bro talk’ without inadvertently backflipping into some weird romance novel trope.

“Yeah.. Okay, you’re turn. What’s your type?”

“What?” Dave turned into a deer in headlights, frozen in his seat.

“I spilled my guts, now you must spill yours. What type of girl are you into?” He repeated the question, kind of curious what Dave found attractive in a girl.

“Uhh…” Dave flushed, his face turning red once again after finally calming down. “Nice ass, I guess? I don’t really care for much else.”

“Dude!” He scolded, feeling a bit sorry for whoever Dave dated in the past. “That’s disgusting! No, what do you look for personality wise? Don’t just reduce your preferences down to one vague physical feature, that can lead down a very fucking sexist rabbit hole that I will not let you go down.”

Dave huffed quietly, eyebrows drawing together. “I dunno! I… I like someone who can stand up for themselves, I guess.. Can’t tolerate anyone with blonde hair and blue eyes, I already have enough of that shit just looking in the fucking mirror, uh.. I dunno, I don’t really like overly sweet or sensitive people. I want someone I can shoot the shit with.. I guess I’m really just looking for a friend that I get to kiss sometimes?”

He sighed, nodding along in agreement. “I hear that. I don’t want a person I exclusively do romantic shit with, I want someone I can have Nerf battles with and pillow fort civil wars and we sometimes kiss and have wild, passionate sex. Is that too much to ask for?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, if I was a gay guy, I would pounce on that opportunity but to be fair I want the same thing just with a lady, so..” Dave trailed off before jumping a bit in his seat, looking like he just had the greatest idea. “I’ve got it! So, you know how I am a straight man, right?”  
“We just covered this, go on.”

“Well, you’re gay so you got to have a lot of girl friends right? Maybe you can hook me up with one of them! C’mon, help a bro out! I’ll put in a good word with some of my guy friends in exchange!”

He raised an eyebrow. “Dave, you’re a good guy but no, I’m not helping you get laid. Go on Tinder like the rest of us.”

“You’re on Tinder? I thought that place was like… Straights only?”

He looked at his roommate, trying to tell him just how stupid that sentence was with only his eyes. “Dude.”

“What?”

“It literally asks what gender you're looking for right in the beginning.”

“...Oh.” Dave mumbled, glancing at his phone. “I didn’t realize that was for, like… All sexualities.” 

“How did we get roomed together?” He sighed, pulling his blanket up to his shoulders.

“Sheer luck, I guess. You goin’ to bed?”

“Nah, I can stay up a bit longer, just getting comfy.” He reassured his roommate. “So… Is there anything you can’t stand in a partner?” He questioned, wanting to know. Maybe he could help Dave out a bit in the dating pool, the guy deserved someone to treat him right.

“Not having the same political opinions as me. I mean, I can handle having a few differences but not believing everyone, no matter how awful, deserves human rights? Weird. Also.. I guess people who can’t take a joke. Like, get upset when I call someone a nerd or something when we’re both obviously just joking around. It kills the mood.”

He nodded, humming in understanding. “I get that. One of my partners broke things off with me cause they heard me chewing out my best friend, knowing we were best friends and knowing we liked to insult each other. I was grateful in the end, turns out they were a Nazi which is not sexy.”

Dave cringed, nodding. “Yeah, not sexy at all. Oh, I also can’t stand people who like my dad. He was a dick to me most of my life and people who write that off or make jokes about that without my permission are just… Not cool. One girlfriend of mine, dude, she fuckin’ joked about hitting me after I got a bad grade because my dad is Asian and hit me. I dumped her within seconds, bitch was racist and insensitive.” He shook his head, huffing quietly at the memory. “Well, is there anything you can’t stand in a partner?”

“Neediness.” He replied immediately, rolling his eyes at the memories that were attached to that word. “Hate people who describe themselves as needy. They always end up trying to manipulate me, some even threaten suicide when I don’t respond to their texts and do a three sixty when I say I need help. ‘Oh, my mental health comes first!’ No, they just want free therapy. I lost a lot of friends when I used to date people like that and honestly, fuck em. Kept saying I needed to be there for my partner like that when I was already going through a lot of shit at the time.”

“Fuck dude, give me names and I’ll go beat their asses up. I can’t even imagine what kind of monster would try to take advantage of you, you’re like, one of the coolest people I have ever met. Dude, you held my shades when I was puking up my guts and then some! That takes a level of kindness that no one else fuckin’ has. It’s rare and you gotta cherish it, not take advantage.” Dave shook his head, even visibly upset at the idea of someone taking advantage of his kindness. It made him all warm and gooey inside, knowing his roommate was on his side.

“Yeah, fuck those guys and fuck your ex girlfriend. She sounds like the type of bitch that would burst into tears when called out on her bullshi-” He yawned before he could finish, his body tensing up and a wave of sleepiness ran over him once he finally relaxed, blinking slowly

“Dude, you should go to bed, you look exhausted.” Dave chuckled quietly, a weird fond look on his face.

“Oh fuck off, I’m not even that tired..” He grumbled, pulling his blankets up more and let his eyes slip shut, his whole body curling up.

“Uh huh.” There was a bit of rustling and moving around before the light turned off and Karkat let his body sink into his mattress, muscles relaxing as the abyss of sleep crept closer and closer.

“Night night Karkles.” Dave whispered, his voice soothing as his chair creaked and the tip tapping of his keys started up again.

“Night night Dave..” He murmured before letting himself finally get some sleep, taking a little bit before he was completely out.

.

.

.

.

Karkat awoke to screaming, his tired body taking an embarrassingly long time to process what he was hearing before he was jumping out of bed and almost tripping on his pants legs. He looked around his room, roommate nowhere to be seen and their door wide open so he did what any half asleep dumbass would do and went outside.

A huge crowd was there, all of them standing away from the stairwell door which was barricaded. He recognized their door jammer underneath the handle and a few items from their neighbors rooms. A dresser, some chairs, even clothes to prevent said things from sliding on the carpet and through it all, he could still see the small, thick pane of glass in the door, showing a girl and a boy he vaguely recognized as Kaylie and her boyfriend. Kaylies neck was barely holding her head to the rest of her body, things that seemed like insects crawling around her wound, trying to repair it while she slammed against the door and hit it, leaving bloody handprints that seemed watered down somehow. Her mouth was snapping and chomping at the air as she desperately tried to get in, blood dripping out from her eyes and-

He yelped when someone grabbed his arm and jumped away, relaxing the second he realized it was Dave who, once again, seemed pretty okay with this whole situation. What the fuck, bro.

“Chill, bro. We’re good, we barricaded ourselves in, even the elevator doors are sealed shut. Apparently someone got bit by something at the semi riot last night and didn’t fucking tell anyone until they fuckin stumbled downstairs at who even fucking knows o’clock and managed to turn the police and even a few students who were just innocent bystanders. Then more got infected when they heard the yelling and came to help, it was a shit show apparently.” Dave explained, his hands slightly shaking. The sight made him want to grab Dave and hold him tight but he didn’t because that would be fucking weird.

“This… This happened very quickly… Hey! Uh,” He quickly gained everyone's attention, having to wave his arms a bit but he got it. “Is anyone in contact with the other floors?” He questioned, projecting his voice to make sure everyone heard him.

“I am!” Their RA, Emma, a tall and ridiculously organized girl spoke up. “I’ll call them and ask what the si-”

“Don’t call!” A guy warned, frantic. “Have you ever watched a zombie movie? The sound will attract them, you should just text!” He told her and she nodded, pulling out her phone to text the other RA’s.

“Alright, everyone else,” Karkat spoke up again, putting his impeccable leadership skills to good use. “Lets get some people checking the news and some people looking out the windows! We need to see if someone is going to come and save us or if we’re stuck here by ourselves, we need to get a read of the situation. Those of you who are sensitive to gore, start searching for space heaters, blankets, close any open windows and if you see anyone acting suspicious, call for help. This situation will be over in hours if we just work together! Let’s meet back here in fifteen minutes!” He announced and people got moving, three people going to their rooms to get on their devices so they could check the local news, a group of people running into various rooms to check the windows while five people started checking for things to keep all of them warm and any open windows or exposed areas.

“Wow. You are stupidly good at that.” Dave commented, grinning like an idiot. “I’ll start micro managing, you go look out windows or whatever.” He wandered off before he could protest and went into various rooms, asking people questions in the weirdly charming way he had.

Karkat sighed, forcing himself to breathe before he went up to the RA. “Any updates?” He questioned, the woman glaring down at her phone like it was the cause of all of this.

“Floors six, two and five are safe, they managed to barricade their doors in time. Apparently they had a few people go out to blockade every floor but…” She sighed, looking up at him. “I don’t think the rest managed to barricade themselves in time. Once all of this dies down, we need to get the zombies out and we need to get to the other floors. Ideally, we get the zombies that are in the stairwell out of there and we block up the doors to that then the doors to the floors that aren’t responding but... “

“We’ll do that when we get a better grip on the situation. You’re rushing into full apocalypse mode and we need to give the police or whoever a few more minutes before we take control of the situation ourselves. Tell the floors to gather up blankets and space heaters, make sure there is no way the zombies can get in, all of that and maybe get on call with a few to make things easier.” He told her and she nodded, moving into one of the rooms with a person checking the news and started asking for updates. He left her be and caught up with the group of window watchers, getting a peak outside and he regretted it immediately. The street was.. Empty, technically. Small groups of zombies shuffling from one puddle to the next where they kneeled down and greedily slurped up the water, blood following them wherever they went. It was disgusting and he could only imagine the rotten smell radiating off their corpses.

“These bitches ugly as fuck.” A girl near him murmured, causing a quiet fit of laughter to roll through them. Humor was easy at a time like this, albeit inappropriate. If it kept people from throwing up or panicking, he was all for it.

“Hey! There's a police car ov- Fuck, fuck, they’re driving away!” The sound of their voice was enough to bring tears to Karkat's eyes as he rapidly tried to see the police car in question, racing by their building and swerving off the road, crashing into a parked car. “We’re.. We’re in here!” Someone spoke up, sounding broken as the zombies raced after the crashed car and started trying to claw their way inside, the police officer stumbling out. Before they could see more, he grabbed the curtain string and brought down the blinds.

“I think it’s best we don’t see that.” He silenced the upcoming protests, mind already flashing with possibilities. There was a slim to none chance that the officer would have survived being surrounded like that and he wasn’t going to see it. “Lets go help the others instead and grab some food for dinner. Fruits, veggies, anything that expires quickly but leave any meat you find. We can’t risk the smell attracting more.” He ordered, ignoring the mumbles of complaints as they filed out of the room to go forage.

Man. This was going to be one long apocalypse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i got this out so late!! i've been hella busy with a lot of fuckin' shit but hey, the world isn't ending! at least, not in this universe. not yet. sorry for any weird plot holes or spelling mistakes, i lowkey rushed this and was technically running on half the amount of sleep i usually have so.. here you go! if it sucks, tell me so i can take it down and we can forget this ever happened

**Author's Note:**

> visit my tumblr valerian-valentine-2 for updates, Q&As and general bullshit


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